Many existing tools for computer-aided lighting design are organized essentially as device palettes, from which the user can browse and select lighting devices (luminaries) to be purchased/rented and arranged in an environment. This is how Dialux™, a software tool developed by DIAL GmbH, is organized. Not uncommonly, the palette is populated with the product range currently available from a specific lighting device supplier. Such a device-oriented design interface forces the user into thinking in terms of existing devices and their capabilities, not in terms of what would be desirable aesthetically or functionally. To a large extent, design tools that are organized in a device-oriented manner owe their efficiency and output quality to the user's familiarity with the device palette. Acquiring and maintaining sufficient familiarity with lighting device available from suppliers may however be a time-consuming process that discourages fresh users.